Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Democrats Expecting To Confirm President Biden’s 100th Judge This Week
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the nominations of Cindy Chung and Gina Méndez-Miró who will become the 99th and 100th judges confirmed under the Biden Administration and our Senate Democratic majority. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
This week, the Senate will reach a significant milestone by confirming the 99th and 100th federal judge of the Biden Administration.
We will begin today with Cindy Chung—nominee number ninety-nine—to serve as a Circuit Court judge for the Third Circuit. If confirmed, Ms. Chung would be the first Asian-American judge to ever, ever sit on the Third Circuit. That should make us all proud.
Cindy Chung is precisely the kind of person we want on the federal bench: she has dedicated her career to protecting civil rights, having prosecuted white supremacists and others charged with hate crimes.
Later today, we will also vote to proceed with Gina Méndez-Miró as District Judge in the District of Puerto Rico.
Judge Méndez-Miró would make history as the first LGBT American to preside in the Puerto Rico District Court.
And very quickly, I want to mention last week’s vote on DeAndrea Benjamin, only the second woman of color ever to serve on the Fourth Circuit. I had to miss her vote unfortunately because of the birth of my grandson, but if I were here, I would have proudly voted to confirm her.
The nominations of DeAndrea Benjamin and Cindy Chung are significant for many reasons. For one, the lion’s share of all federal cases are ultimately decided at the circuit court level, so filling these vacancies with judges like Ms. Benjamin and Chung is essential.
Second, despite their importance, Circuit Courts have traditionally lagged well behind other courts in terms of diversity—we want these courts, so vital, so powerful, to represent America, all of America, not just some of it. Ms. Benjamin and Ms. Chung will help remedy that with their unique experiences and much-needed perspectives on the law.
Senate Democrats have focused intensely on expanding the diversity of our courts, and not just in terms of demographics but in terms of experience, professional experience too. We are working hard not only to add more women, more people of color, more lawyers from unique backgrounds to the bench, but people of different walks of life. Ketanji Brown Jackson was the first Legal Aid attorney to serve on the Supreme Court. After all these years, that perspective had not been on the court—now it is. So, why do we want these kinds of diversity? It’s simple: when Americans present their cases before these courts, they should trust that they will get a fair shake in the dispensation of justice.
The more our courts reflect the country at large—in terms of backgrounds and experiences—the greater that trust will be in the long run.
Ms. Benjamin, Ms. Chung, and Ms. Méndez-Miró are all examples of the kinds of judges who will strengthen that trust. I congratulate each of them on their nominations. I thank Chairman Durbin and the great members of the Judiciary Committee for moving these individuals quickly through the nomination process.
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